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[Jc3131]

Great if they cut it. It is a relatively strong drug...certainly compared to Metformin. I was put on 40mg when diagnosed...which was increased to 80mg. To be clear, 4.4mmols is definitely NOT too low...it's great. The only real concern would be if you were also really cutting down on carbs, as this added to the Gliclazide COULD potentially cause hypos. I stopped it completely following nightmares (a known side effect) and focused purely on LCHF dieting. Never looked back. Don't worry about the 4.4...the queasy feelings are very probably your system getting used to lower levels as others have said.

Ive cut my carbs right down, i dont really count them but i judge what im eating. As soon as I eat any bread, potatoes, cereal and other food like that i seem to have quite high spikes.

I'm not really enjoying the things I eat, i just eat because I have to. A problem I have is that i need to put about 8 lbs on as i look too thin at the moment. Not eating nornally is not helping.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Ive cut my carbs right down, i dont really count them but i judge what im eating. As soon as I eat any bread, potatoes, cereal and other food like that i seem to have quite high spikes.

I'm not really enjoying the things I eat, i just eat because I have to. A problem I have is that i need to put about 8 lbs on as i look too thin at the moment. Not eating nornally is not helping.

Can you tell us what you eat in a typical day?

 

[Jc3131]

Can you tell us what you eat in a typical day?

Porridge with a few berries and a cup of tea for breakfast. Then a few hours after ryvita with some cheese on and/or a handful of walnuts.

For dinner/lunch a bit of a mixed bag. I had scrambled eggs on top of chicken yesterday. Normally have chicken with steamed veg and some sort of salad leaves.

Tea time its chicken again. Tonight it was that maggi bagged stuff. It was herb chicken flavour ( never had this since being diagnosed and the carbs are highish) and some steamed veg.

The odd granny Smith apple and some nuts at random times throughout the day.

And sometimes peanut butter in place of the nuts.

 

[Bluetit1802]

If you are losing weight and need to stop, you should try increasing your calories by adding extra fats. More cheese. Add butter to your veggies. Try frying with some butter or roasting with some duck/goose fat. Add olive oil or real mayo to salads. Have a dessert some days with plain yogurt or double cream and a few berries.

After I lost all my excess weight on low carb it took a while to get the right balance to maintain my new weight. It wasn't easy. I added cheese, more eggs, more mayo, and a glass of red wine in the evenings. After a couple of months I found the right balance of carbs/protein/fats and have maintained my new weight since 2014. (and also have normal blood sugars and ideal cholesterol)

Is chicken the only meat you eat? What about pork, lamb, beef? I see you can't stomach fish of any sort. Is that still the case or something from your past? Have you tried the tinned varieties (salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel)? A small tin of red salmon mashed with mayo and some onions is worth a try.

 

[ringi]

Im on 80 mg Gliclazide and 500mg metformin in the morning and 40mg Gliclazide and 500mg metformin at tea time.

A friend told me they may reduce my gliclazide if its dropping too low.

Your aim should be to keep your BG below 7 but above 5 while taking Gliclazide, as soon as you prove with readings that your BG is under control, they should reduce your Gliclazide. While taking Gliclazide you should not drive when below 5.

Having a lot of carbs for breakfast may be part of the problem with unstable BG, being "slow release" they will be keeping your BG up for many hours, then it will drop.

 

[Jc3131]

If you are losing weight and need to stop, you should try increasing your calories by adding extra fats. More cheese. Add butter to your veggies. Try frying with some butter or roasting with some duck/goose fat. Add olive oil or real mayo to salads. Have a dessert some days with plain yogurt or double cream and a few berries.

After I lost all my excess weight on low carb it took a while to get the right balance to maintain my new weight. It wasn't easy. I added cheese, more eggs, more mayo, and a glass of red wine in the evenings. After a couple of months I found the right balance of carbs/protein/fats and have maintained my new weight since 2014. (and also have normal blood sugars and ideal cholesterol)

Is chicken the only meat you eat? What about pork, lamb, beef? I see you can't stomach fish of any sort. Is that still the case or something from your past? Have you tried the tinned varieties (salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel)? A small tin of red salmon mashed with mayo and some onions is worth a try.

I wasn't reallt overweight to start with so losing roughly 16 lbs has made me look a little gaunt. Adding extra fats will be ok especially as I could eat cheese for fun.

Any sort of fish etc is a no go. I just cannot stand it. The smell for starters puts me right off. The only other meats I really eat are hams, bacon, Turkey and beef, mainly beef burgers or minced beef. Oh and pork sausages.

The chicken and veg combo i have is starting to get a bit sickly so i need other ideas. I'm seeing a dietician in two weeks time so im hoping this will help.

 

[ringi]

What about a Turkey stake with cheese on top for breakfast?

Also Avocados, they change a lot as they get ripe so if you don't like the first one, experiment with how ripe they are. Also olives are good.

 

[keitjones]

I need something that fills me for breakfast as if not im hungry all day. Bread seems to spike me, even the low carb stuff. Al- bran made me jump from 7.3 to 13.8 the other day. Porrige seems a bit better even though it still raises my bg levels a bit.

Al bran is 30% sugar. Most cereals are loaded with sugar. Crazy!

 

[Jc3131]

What about a Turkey stake with cheese on top for breakfast?

Also Avocados, they change a lot as they get ripe so if you don't like the first one, experiment with how ripe they are. Also olives are good.

Ive never tried avacado. I'll get one tomorrow.

 

[pleinster]

Ive never tried avacado. I'll get one tomorrow.

You don't need to eat it as is...chop it up in a leafy salad. I really like walnuts and vinegar added. Pity about he fish...the oily stuff is ideal. Smoked cheese....almonds, brazil nuts maybe.. personally I wouldn't stop the low carb diet if I were you, I would add a few more carbs here and there maybe bit in the main I would eat more butter cream etc. Good luck.

 

[pleinster]

Your aim should be to keep your BG below 7 but above 5 while taking Gliclazide, as soon as you prove with readings that your BG is under control, they should reduce your Gliclazide. While taking Gliclazide you should not drive when below 5.

Having a lot of carbs for breakfast may be part of the problem with unstable BG, being "slow release" they will be keeping your BG up for many hours, then it will drop.

Where did you get the stay above 5mmols on Gliclazide from? Just asking. My consultant and 4 doctors told me to aim at between 7-8mmols and 4mmols. My dose was doubled due to my lack of reaction to the 40mg. My feeling is that can react differently to it and that, taking diet into account so that it doesn't get too low while sleeping, we need to work out how our own systems respond.

 

[ringi]

The DVLA says you should eat curbs if you are below 5 mmols (when taking Gliclazide) before driving and as most people drive, or use ladders, or use high risk tools etc..... (I would also like a bit of "space" for someone to move into with "low carb", as the meds should not stop someone improving what they eat.)

Aiming for above 4 is a bit low, as you don't want to ever go below 4 while on the likes of Gliclazide.

 

[pleinster]

The DVLA says you should eat curbs if you are below 5 mmols (when taking Gliclazide) before driving and as most people drive, or use ladders, or use high risk tools etc..... (I would also like a bit of "space" for someone to move into with "low carb", as the meds should not stop someone improving what they eat.)

Aiming for above 4 is a bit low, as you don't want to ever go below 4 while on the likes of Gliclazide.

Yes, but isn't that simply in relation to driving? I see no issue with a 4.5mmols reading while on Gliclazide but would obviously want to avoid much below 4. I stopped taking Gliclazide about two years ago and still aim for the same levels I did while on it. I think what you are saying is that staying at 5 or above make sit less likely your level will drop into a hypo state..and I get that, I do...but i don't think that someone regularly getting mid 4s on the drug without any hypo happening should be overly concerned.

 

[ringi]

I too am no longer on Gliclazid so am now happy for my levels to do as low as by body wants them to, as there is nothing stopping my body raising them when needed.

The first problem with being happy with a 4.5 mmol while on Gliclazide is that most people are unlikely to know if it is going up or coming down. Also “aiming for” above 5 still allows someone to accept being a little below 5 if they are otherwise feeling OK, just not to try hard to be below 5.

If someone is committed to consistently reduce the carbs they are eating and have insulin resistance(most T2), then I think the Gliclazide dose should be reduced as quickly as is safe to do so, as lower the Gliclazide dose more likely someone is to lose weight.

 

[Jc3131]

I too am no longer on Gliclazid so am now happy for my levels to do as low as by body wants them to, as there is nothing stopping my body raising them when needed.

The first problem with being happy with a 4.5 mmol while on Gliclazide is that most people are unlikely to know if it is going up or coming down. Also “aiming for” above 5 still allows someone to accept being a little below 5 if they are otherwise feeling OK, just not to try hard to be below 5.

If someone is committed to consistently reduce the carbs they are eating and have insulin resistance(most T2), then I think the Gliclazide dose should be reduced as quickly as is safe to do so, as lower the Gliclazide dose more likely someone is to lose weight.

I was 7.8 this morning. Ive been out and done the food shopping which at the moment is quite hard as there's too many temptations. When I got home i felt a little light headed again so I checked my bg levels and I was 4.8.

I seem to be getting ok readings but I also have huge spikes after certain meals. When my medication is sorted properly will these spikes level out a little?

 

[ringi]

If you just rest, does your BG go up? (If so I would except 4.5 unless you are about to drive.)

Assuming you are T2 with insulin resistance, If (when?) you manage to remove most of the fat from you liver your body will have much better control over BG and hence the spikes will be less. Until that time, you need to avoid eating food that gives you high spikes.

 

[pleinster]

I was 7.8 this morning. Ive been out and done the food shopping which at the moment is quite hard as there's too many temptations. When I got home i felt a little light headed again so I checked my bg levels and I was 4.8.

I seem to be getting ok readings but I also have huge spikes after certain meals. When my medication is sorted properly will these spikes level out a little?

Hi. A light headed feeling at 4.8 is very probably due to you being normally a good bit higher than that. I wonder when the last time you had a level below 5mmls was (and whether you know that). Do NOT be worried about it being a hypo. 4.8 is a very good level that the vast majority of us are aiming for. It is a very healthy number...you're body is just getting used to it. I am tagging @daisy1 so you can see what numbers (generally) are the range you want to have. If i was getting 4.8 on a regular basis, I would be delighted. My wife, who is not diabetic averages 4-5mmols. It has been pointed out that, on Gliclazide you don't want to be too low (if that is the drug you are on)..and as you will see there are evidently different opinions on how low you might consider "safe"; when I was on 80mg of Gliclazide my doctors told me what I should be aiming at, and I only ever fell below 4mmols twice (and that was when I felt a wee bit woozy...soon sorted with two wine gums) so I was never concerned with a 4.8. That said, we are all variations on a theme (as humans not just as diabetics) and we arrive at our own best numbers in our own ways. I agree with @ringi that you should avoid eating foods that give you high spikes (ie. a jump of say 3mmols two hours after a meal). The "huge" spikes are very very probably down to too many carbohydrates in the meals. Personally didn't like being on Gliclazide as I wanted to know what the impact of different foods were on my system without another agent to confuse matters. For me, no meds and low carb dieting alone was/is the way to go. I would stress that being on Gliclazide while low carbing is more of a concern as there are then effectively two things lowering blood sugar and that certainly can produce hypos if you're not careful. the Gliclazide can take a while to make a dent in your numbers (again we all vary) and it may keep the spikes down a bit...but you will still get spikes if you are eating too many carbs (I certainly did). Think more about your carb intake but bear in mind you are also on a relatively strong agent in Gliclazide.

 

[Jc3131]

Ive posted on another topic that i found out that im type 1. Which is a shock. So at the moment im stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[pleinster]

Ive posted on another topic that i found out that im type 1. Which is a shock. So at the moment im stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Ah. Have you just found out? Some of my comment is suddenly way less relevant. I am out of my depth on the Type 1 stuff, but I'd say take your time until you have your balance sorted out and don't rush into any changes. Hopefully things will get easier to gauge and to influence soon. As you will know, there is lot of expertise on this site. Keep asking questions. Good luck

 

[daisy1]

@Jc3131

Here in my signature is the link to the Basic Information on a thread which you posted on previously. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will be able to help.